title: Local dynamic stability of lower extremity joints in lower limb amputees during slope walking.
abstract: Lower limb amputees have a higher fall risk during slope walking compared with non-amputees. However, studies on amputees' slope walking were not well addressed. The aim of this study was to identify the difference of slope walking between amputees and non-amputees. Lyapunov exponents λS was used to estimate the local dynamic stability of 7 transtibial amputees' and 7 controls' lower extremity joint kinematics during uphill and downhill walking. Compared with the controls, amputees exhibited significantly lower λS in hip (P=0.04) and ankle (P=0.01) joints of the sound limb, and hip joints (P=0.01) of the prosthetic limb during uphill walking, while they exhibited significantly lower λS in knee (P=0.02) and ankle (P=0.03) joints of the sound limb, and hip joints (P=0.03) of the prosthetic limb during downhill walking. Compared with amputees level walking, they exhibited significantly lower λS in ankle joints of the sound limb during both uphill (P=0.01) and downhill walking (P=0.01). We hypothesized that the better local dynamic stability of amputees was caused by compensation strategy during slope walking.
authors.forename: Jin-Ling
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Dong-Yun
authors.initials: DY
authors.lastname: Gu
mesh_terms: D000058:Accidental Falls / Q000517:prevention & control; D000328:Adult; D000674:Amputees; D000842:Ankle / Q000502:physiology; D000843:Ankle Joint / Q000502:physiology*; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D005260:Female; D005684:Gait / Q000502:physiology*; D006621:Hip Joint / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007717:Knee / Q000502:physiology; D007719:Knee Joint / Q000502:physiology; D007866:Leg / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D018670:Monitoring, Ambulatory / Q000379:methods*; D011474:Prosthesis Design; D016138:Walking / Q000502:physiology*